Imperio | A Hogwarts Legacy Story |

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The room remained quiet. The only noise that I could hear was someone's chair creaking as they slightly moved. Natsai made eye contact with me, and she seemed worried. She was such a good friend, as was all of the friends I had. Ominis, though he couldn't see the tears, he knew.

"Maybe we should see my future next." He blurted out.

He continued, "We all hear the rumors, especially me. Everyone in this school judges us for something we had nothing to do with. Sebastian made his decision, it's done. I'm a direct descendant of Salazar Slytherin and I am no sorts of evil. Xyla... she saved all of you from Ranrok, but you have the audacity to turn a blind eye to that and see her as a villain. She is carrying a power that comes with heavy baggage. You all have no room to speak on any of this."

I squeaked his name out, "Ominis."

His face turned toward where I stood, my voice luring him that way.

"I can speak out about a few rumors I know of. Let's start with you, Imelda Reyes."

Imelda's eyes widened, "You vile-"

Professor Onai raised her hand in the air, "Silence, class."

She gazed at me with eyes full of sympathy, "Xyla, you may go to your seat now."

I did as she said, but not before taking a moment to look back over my shoulder at him.

His grey eyes set on mine, as if he could truly see me for the first time... but I knew I only fooled myself.

𝙴𝚗𝚍 𝚘𝚏 𝚂𝚌𝚑𝚎𝚍𝚞𝚕𝚎𝚍 𝙲𝚕𝚊𝚜𝚜𝚎𝚜, 3𝙿𝙼

Poppy Sweeting and I walked through the courtyard as we headed towards the outer area of Hogwarts. We were on our way to see if Highwing had birthed her babies yet. It had been months since we learned she was carrying, and the excitement almost tore Poppy to pieces. But finally, it was time. Poppy was always so sweet to me during our fifth year, and nothing changed after everything happened. She remained loyal, and never grazed from the path of our friendship. Not one rumor made her question, and she stood by Ominis and I like she did before Sebastian did what he did. The whole school saw him and I as villains since we were his best friends, but Poppy didn't. She was the only one we could trust with every bit of information.

"Xy, did you hear what happened to Imelda earlier at her Quidditch try outs?"

I shook my head followed by a verbal, "No."

She giggled, "I have nothing against her, and she is so good at Quidditch but she was banned from playing this year."

I stopped in my tracks, most likely damaging the courtyards fine grass. 'What?"

She looked at me as she stopped too, "Yep. They found a vial of liquid luck in her sport bag. So, because she had no permission from the Headmaster, goodbye Quidditch this year."

My eyes widened, in surprise but in actuality, because I would be able to make head captain this year with her out. I was a nice person, but to rub this in her snotty face would make me extremely happy.

"What's that I hear?" Ominis walked toward us, his wand guiding him.

I hadn't seen Ominis since the classroom incident earlier, but he seemed as happy as usual to be in my presence. Poppy buzzed in.

"Imelda Reyes was banned from Quidditch this year!"

I think Poppy was more excited than I was about it. Ominis smirked at her answer.

"As she should, I always thought she cheated anyway."

I squinted my eyes and questioned him, "How so?"

He let out a small laugh, "I suppose I have just never liked her that much."

Poppy glanced between us and then turned toward me, "I'm going to head to check in on Highwing. Meet me later, Xy?"

I didn't get a moment to chime in before she skipped away. A shaky breath released from my chest and I felt the need to vanish from thin air, but Ominis spoke.

"Why do you allow others to torment you so?" He felt around in the air for my hand before taking it gently in his own.

Truly, I wasn't sure how to answer that question. I didn't want to be bullied continuously for something I could no longer control, but was there any use to challenging the bullies?

"Would it make a difference for me to argue with them? I highly doubt it would change their perspective of me, Ominis. "

His thumb grazed my pale skin softly as he answered. "Perhaps not, but I wouldn't want you to stop fighting. To give up and to give in to what people think of you, that's not a life. You must be willing to speak up and change their minds."

A spark ignited, but not of the romantic kind. "Do you believe Sebastian speaking up changed their minds? Our minds?"

My eyes bore into his form, my tone laced with tension. His grey eyes flashed with irritability.

"Shall I always be reminded of where I failed, Xyla? You know as well as I that Sebastian was too far gone by the time we spoke up. You especially know, considering you helped him become what he is."

I half expected him to allow his wand to lead him in a far enough direction away from me, but he stayed in his spot. It felt like a slap to the face when he outright blamed me for Sebastian's wrong doings. But I knew he wasn't wrong, and I was surprised I didn't end up in Azkaban along with him.

"You're right. I did help him, but you did nothing to stop him. And that's a burden you must carry as well."

I walked away instead, not wanting to drown myself in the pain more.